Tool or machine for making storage-battery grids.



R. NLCHAMB'ERLAIN. TOOL 0R MACHINE POR MAKING STORAGE BATTERY GRIDS.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 5, 1906.

Patented July 2?, 1909.

OHNE YS marian erratas anivr erica.

RUFUS N. OHAMBERLAIN, OF DEPEW, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GOULD STORAGEBATTERY COMPANY, OF NEW YORK,N. Y., A CORPORATION OF` NEW YORK.

TOOL OR MACHINE FOR MAKING STORAGE-BATTERY'GRIDS.

Application iled January 5, 1906. Serial No. 294,783.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1909.

To all fil/'hom t may concern:

Re it known that l, Burns N. CHAMBER- liii, acitizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Depew, Erie county, State of New York, have inventedcertain new anduseful lmprovements in Tools or Machines for MakingStorage-Battery Grids, of which the following is a specification.

ln the type of bat-tery grids known as the Gould, a large number of thinribs ridges or leaves, closely set together and separated by narrowgrooves, are spun or rolled up from thebody of the grid-blank to providea greatly extended surface for the action of the electrolyte. For makingsuch grooves it has been customary to use flat sided steel disks,closely assembled together upon a shaftthe result of the operation ofwhich is the production of similarly fiat sided ribs or leaves upon thegrid separated from each other by spaces equal only to the thickness ofthe disks. A. form of machine adapted to the making of such grids isshown in the patent of Richards, llo. 6998131- granted May 13, 1902.Such disks or knives, in order to produce ribs or leaves of the desiredfineness and close arrangement are made of thin steel liable to break orcrack-,near the base before it is worn out on its spinning or rollingsurface and to bend and deflect from the work while in operation, and soproduce imperfections in the grids; furthermore, the weakness of thedisks limits the pressure at which the rolls may be operated andconsequently the speed at which the grids may be made. These are some ofthe defects of the old form of machine, so far as the cutting, spinningor rolling knives orl disks themselves are concerned. As to the lproductmade by them l have found that the parallel sided ribs or leaves areweak mechanically owing to their height and thinness. F urthermore, theparallel sides of the ribs of the grid seem to succumb to the extraelectrochemical activity developed near the base of the rib with theresult that they are eaten through and loosened from the main body ofthe plate in many cases. it seems that with the deep parallel-wallgrooves the diffusion of the acid which allows a more even actiondecreases, more or less inv proportion to the depth of the groove. ITherib, therefore, is weak from an electro-chemical standpoint, as well asweak from a mechanical standpoint, and it* is likely Y also that theparallel sides of the knife or disk destroy to a certain extent themolecular. structure of the ribs near the base allowing theelectrochemical action to penetrate more actively at thatrv point. ltmaybe that the lead at that point assumes more` the structure of castlead than rolled lead.v A Y While it is not intended here to suggestthat the above noted defects are sutlicient to prevent the successfulmaking and use of such grids, they nevertheless present seriousdisadvantages in operationand yl have in an application filed Sept. 7,1905, Serial No. 277421, pointed out means for overcoming them and thepresent invention relates to a still further improvement designedtoextend the range of operation of the spinning, cutting or rollingmachine. Inmy said application l have shown Vand described disks orknives beveled to a vpoint remote from the cutting edge andsubstantially to the depth of the cut desired, resulting in thestrengthening and stiffening of the disks orknives and the consequentshortening. of the spinning or rolling operation, and also in importantresults as to the grid formed thereby, especially in the resultingopenness of the grooves and consequent .better distribution of theelectrolyte throughout their depth and eqnalizing of the action of thecurrent on the ribs; in the thickening of the basesk of the ribs andconsequentstrengthening of them mechanically while affording a greatermass of material at thepoint Where uneven action occurs, and thecompacting of the lead at the base of the rib, just where under the oldmethod, the action of the disks or cutters apparent-ly resulted in aweakening of the molecular structure of the rib. All of the above isfully described in my aforesaid application but itis necessary to repeatit here to render distinct the present improvement, which concernsmerely a modi-v fied form of thatinvention. The disks or cutters of saidpending application are tapered to the entire depth of their exposedsurfaces. There is no possibility of burying the cutters deeper in thelead blank than the vdepth of the beveled surfaces. Thus the disks arebest adapted to working only on a single thickness of blank and thetendency, if the disks be forced in too deep or there be slightirregularity of action due to the shape of the knife, is to force theapex upV into the sharp angle between the disks and so tear it from theplate.

In my present invention the disks are as before set forth Vin saidapplication, beveled to a point remote from the cutting edge andsubstantially to the depth of cut desired. But from that point a flatVsided channel is provided between the disks into which the apex of therib may flow-to a greater or less extent accoi'ding to the thickness ofblank employed and the depth of cut desired-thus forming higher ribs ifneed be and larger capacity grooves by allowing the disks to feed deeperinto the blank and preventing tlie partial destiuction of the rib whichwould occur if it struck the base of the groove between the disks.

In the accompanying drawing Figure l is a sectional view of portions ofcutting, spinning or rollingl'rolls constructed in accordance with mypresent invention, and showing also in section a portion of a grid inwhich the cutting disks are embedded to the normal depth of cut; Fig. 2is a similar view showing the effect produced by more deeply embeddingthe cut-ting tools in the blank. These two views are to a greatlyenlarged scale. Fig. 3 is an elevation of a part of the roller,substantially twice the full size.

Upon the arbo-i" or shaft l are placed 'a series of cutting' disks orknives 2 whose cutting' edges are beveled as shown in Fig. l, to a depthsubstantially equal to the Adepth of cut desired, and I have shown at 3a portion of a lead blank in which the cutting tool has been embedded bythe action of the machine until the apex of the rib 4 has reached theend of the beveled portion of the disks.

it will be noticed that if by reason of too great penetration of cut dueeither to an effort to obtain greater capacity oi to slightirregularities of the action of the machine, or of the form of thecutting disk, the apex of the lead leaf oi rib ascending into theconverging angle between the disks is apt to be torn thereby, and in anyevent to be prevented froni sufficient expansion to allow slight changesof depth of cut. and capacity. In the present form, however, the bevelends at the point x where it meets the flat side of the disk, the anglebetween the two surfaces each other, as for example, by the washers 5,there is thus provided a channel G into which any expansion of the ribdue to accidental or intentional excess depth of cut takes place.

In Fig. 2 is shown the result when the embedding of the tool into thelead blank is sufficient to cause the apex of the lead rib to passslightly beyond the beveled face of the tool and into the channel (5. ltis in any case notI intended that there shall be any great flow of metalinto the channel 6 but only sufficient to provide for necessaryirregularities of action and slight modifications inV capacity andthickness of blank.

@ther means than those shown for separating the disks may be employed,the disks and washers are clamped upon the shaft in the usual manner,and in other respects the general construction of the machine may be ofthe usual or preferred construction, for example, that. shown anddescribed in the said Letters Patent of Richards.

Having thus described the invention what l claim new and desire tosecure by Leb ters Patent is l. fa cutting, spinning or rolling tool forthe forming of lead storage battery grids of large capacity from l'latblanks, con'iprising a shaft or roller and a seriesof relatively thindisks closely set thereon having cutting edges tapered or beveledsubstantially to the depth of cut of the tool forming inwardlyconverging spaces between them and having relatively thin,parallel-walled overflow channels between the disks and extending inwardtoward the roller axis from the beveled poi'- tion of the disks.

2. A cutting, spinning or rolling tool for the forming of lead storagebattery grids of large capacity from flat blanks, comprising a shaft orroller, a series of relatively thin disks closely set thereon, havingcutting edges tapered or beveled substantially to the `depth of cut ofthe tool forming inwardly converging spaces between them and relativelythin circular washers separating the disks to forni thin,parallel-walled overflow channels between the disks extending inward"toward the roller axis from the beveled portion of the disks.

RUFUS N. CHAMBERLAIN.

lVitnesses HARRY E. Kniciir, ELLEN HOUGH.

